What is MySpace – the Series?

In July MySpace became the most visited website in the U.S.  Earlier this month, we at OurChurch.Com began surveying our 8,000+ webmasters about MySpace.  Preliminary results show almost half our webmasters don’t know what MySpace is.  So, I decided it was time for me to take the plunge, create a MySpace profile, and start writing about it.

I’m going to do a series of blog articles about MySpace as it relates to Christian communication.  I don’t have the whole series planned out yet, because a lot of it will depend on my experiences and interactions with other people, but some of the questions/topics I’m already tossing around in my mind include:

• Is MySpace safe?
• Is MySpace a passing trend or here to stay?
• Does MySpace enrich your life by allowing you to interact with people you otherwise never would have met?
• Is MySpace a mission field for online evangelism?
• Should your church/ministry have a MySpace profile?
• Are there any tips or warnings concerning MySpace?

But before I get to all that, here are some of the basics…

What is MySpace?

MySpace was founded just 3 years ago by current president Tom Anderson, current CEO Chris DeWolfe, and a small team of programmers.  Last July it was purchased by Newscorp for $580 million, and today it boasts over 99 million members with 500,000 new members each week.

Not bad for 3 years.

Wikipedia describes MySpace as “a free service that uses the Internet for online communication through an interactive network of photos, weblogs, user profiles, e-mail, web forums, and groups, as well as other media formats. This all-inclusive service is sometimes called a social networking interface.”

In other words, it’s a place where you post information and pictures about yourself, find other people, and interact with them. As you probably know, it’s all the rage among teenagers.

Taking the Plunge

I filled out the form to create my profile and the next page asked me to upload a picture of myself.  I searched around my hard drive for a picture of myself that with enough editing could make me look cool.  A tough task, no doubt, but just when I was about to conclude some things are still impossible even with Photoshop, I found a shot of me fixing a hurricane shelter with a power drill (add your best Tim Allen grunt).

I took a break for lunch and when I got back I already had two “friends.”  Wow, I didn’t know making friends could be so easy.  One of them is Tom, who happens to have 99,747,096 other friends.  Call me cynical if you like, but I have doubts about Tom’s sincerity.  Anyways, I’m looking forward to seeing who I meet at MySpace and I’ll delve into more serious issues next time.

If you like you can check out my profile and even invite me to be your friend. (Can’t you just feel the love?)

What are other saying about MySpace?

I took a few moments to ask people online how they would describe MySpace and here are some of the responses I received:

“A friend of mine moved to Cali and suggested I make one as a cheap way for us to keep in touch.  Next thing you know, I’m talking to folks I went to elementary/middle/high school with whom I haven’t spoken to in years, nor would I have ever come in contact with them again if not for the site.”

“It’s a place where pedofiles can find suitable victims.”

“myspace is fantastic. i can sport pictures of myself in a tasteless manner, and i do”

“MySpace, to me, is a passing fad where juveniles ‘hang out’ and spew nonsense.”

“Myspace is just like any other online application. It has good uses, it has bad uses. It have people that will use it ‘responsibly’ and people that will try and take advantage of other people.”

What does MySpace mean to you?  Why do you hang out there? (or why not?)